The House Ways and Means Committee, with near-unanimity, recommended the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement go to the floor. A vote on the replacement for NAFTA is expected on Dec. 19. For about three hours, Democrats and Republicans praised the rewrite of North America's free trade pact, though many Republicans complained that it took a year to get the opportunity to vote for it.
House Democrats and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative say that the new NAFTA can serve as a template for future trade deals, but experts question how that might come to pass, and a key Republican wants at least one Republican priority restored in future deals.
House Democrats and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative say that the new NAFTA can serve as a template for future trade deals, but experts question how that might come to pass, and a key Republican wants at least one Republican priority restored in future deals.
After a surprise tweet from President Donald Trump that he would implement tariffs on Brazilian steel and on Argentinian steel and aluminum (see 1912020002), the agency in charge of Section 232 actions declined to say when a Federal Register notice would follow to put the tweet into action. The department also declined to say if importers can bring in products in sectors where the quotas are already full while waiting for the Federal Register notice. Commerce also didn't say if importers can apply for exclusions for the items. Currently, exclusions against quotas are allowed, but they are not allowed to be taken until this quarter, even though the quotas fill up quarter-by-quarter.
When tariffs on their entire product line rose to 25 percent, small bike companies were faced with difficult decisions on raising prices and reducing staff. For Mehdi Farsi, co-founder of State Bicycle Co., a 10-year-old firm in Arizona, the financial burden meant he ended free shipping for online customers, then raised the price of the second-highest seller from $449 to $459. Shipping usually cost the company between $25 and $50, depending on the distance. He also didn't replace one person who left the company, and laid off one worker. Currently, including the owners, there are 15 workers, a couple of whom work only part time.
President Donald Trump said everybody thinks it makes sense for the executive branch to be able to hike tariffs on trading partners to the same levels those countries tax the corresponding American products. This proposal, the Reciprocal Trade Act (see 1901240017), was introduced by a Republican who left his office in the middle of the term to work as a CNN talking head. Trump acknowledged that it cannot pass unless Republicans retake the majority in the House of Representatives.
One panelist said it will take 20 years to know who are the winners and losers of today's tariffs and export restrictions. Another panelist said U.S. factory workers making washing machines and solar panels are clearly winning from the safeguards launched nearly two years ago, as are Vietnam and Mexico. Another panelist said Vietnam and Thailand, and Mexico to a much lesser degree. As moderator Lucas Queiroz Piers said, “It is a confusing moment." The Alston & Bird legal consultant was coordinating a panel called "U.S. Sanctions and Trade War: Winners and Losers," at an American University Washington School of Law International Trade Symposium on Nov. 5.
One panelist said it will take 20 years to know who are the winners and losers of today's tariffs and export restrictions. Another panelist said U.S. factory workers making washing machines and solar panels are clearly winning from the safeguards launched nearly two years ago, as are Vietnam and Mexico. Another panelist said Vietnam and Thailand, and Mexico to a much lesser degree. As moderator Lucas Queiroz Piers said, “It is a confusing moment." The Alston & Bird legal consultant was coordinating a panel called "U.S. Sanctions and Trade War: Winners and Losers," at an American University Washington School of Law International Trade Symposium on Nov. 5.
Mexico is extending increased duties on a range of textiles, apparel and footwear products through 2024, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in an Oct. 31 report. Mexico is imposing a 25 percent duty on 274 apparel and made-up textile tariff lines and a 25 percent or 30 percent duty on footwear tariff lines through Sept. 30, 2021, the report said. Those duties are scheduled to fall to 20 percent on Oct. 1, 2024.
Business and labor leaders and government insider panelists agreed that the U.S.-China trade war will be difficult to unravel, but disagreed on how quickly Democrats could -- or should -- resolve outstanding issues on the NAFTA rewrite. The trade panel Oct. 10, hosted by Fiscal Note, included Clete Willems, former White House deputy assistant to the president for international economics, who said that although it pained him to say it, "The political conditions in both countries are just not conducive to the big deal."